INternational Journal of Criminal Justice
Sciences

Vol 3 Issue 2 July - december 2008

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At a time when citizens and societies are
increasingly coming under state surveillance and
formal control, this book on community policing
provides an opportunity for societies to understand
and espouseinformal and formal forms of
social control. Through a series of case studies by
anthropologists and criminologists this volume
provides a comprehensive survey of Community
Oriented Policing (COP) as practiced in many states
across continents.It aims to elucidate this
concept in relation to the work of the police and
their relations with civic society. Many of writings
of the Editors of this book, Dominique Wisler and
Ihekwoaba D. Onwudiwe, have been focused on locating
the ‘Community’ with regard to policing in an
attempt to make this concept more people oriented.
The editors have worked hard to compile an
extraordinary book with distinguished authors on
community policing. The scope of the book and the
manner that the subject is presented makes it
relevant in today’s context of establishing social
control.

Policing is essentially both political and social
and profoundly influenced by existing ideological,
cultural, the social capital base and the discourses
found in civic society. COP is often considered to
be synonymous with ‘democratic’ professional
policing implying partnership, accountability and
transparency and different from other policing
models. Arising from liberal democracies, COP
swiftly extended around the globe mainly to the
countries emerging from the painful colonial past
and military rule. This book illustrates through
case studies, the impact of community policing in
developed and developing countries and explores the
myriad practices for which the term COP is used to
describe what is being done, even though the
specifics of policing practices and interactions of
formal and informal social control are unique and
widely disparate from case to case. The book also
looks at the nature of state, bureaucracies and role
of legitimate control of coercion in the context of
ethnicity, religion, and local communities. Many
chapters of this volume trace the historical process
and context of hegemony and the monopoly of and
legitimacy in use of violence in various societies
by the state.

Security, a fundamental goal of civil society, state
and police, is ideologically conceived as social
order and is elemental for social reproduction.
Whenever and wherever state and its law enforcement
agencies have failed to provide security on account
of reasons such as effective organization, lack of
resources, skills, political interference,
commitment, or corruptionindividuals and
communities in different countries have organized
themselves to protect their real and perceived
interests.

Whereas countries like Nigeria which have
experienced colonial rule or military rule are
turning to vigilantism and informal policing
structure for indigenous social control. Though the
Nigerian police force has adopted COP it has
established police vigilante liaison officers to
advise these groups on the legal limits of their
powers.

Suzette Heald in her chapter has brought out the
nature of post colonial state and the changing
nature of its relation with local communities. In
Tanzania, the sungusungu was organized as a
form of community policing, when hit by a wave of
violence and banditry. Initially, working outside
the state, the sungusungu, “adapted to the
cultural repertoire of the area as well as to the
developments on national and regional political
scene” (Suzette Heald, p. 58). This adaptation was
possible due to the constant lawlessness and
corruption which encouraged invisibility of state
authority and its structures. The sungusungu
altered the nature of state power for social control
at local levels by codifying their own laws and
developed local capacity of policing. The sungusungu
has redefined state community relations by allowing
communitiesto reinvent themselves, retain a
certain degree of autonomy and forced authorities to
prioritize and respond to the needs of local
communities.

In South Africa in a period of political transition
of state and authority, community policing was
advocated with a core vision of democracy and human
rights when it faced almost ‘unique problems… of
race mix, high wealth gap (and) inequalities in the
justice system’ (Anthony Minnar, pp. 23 -24) states
but that community policing ended in failure and was
abandoned.

Though the colonial experience has fostered a deep
sense of distrust of police, India has been
restructuring its political and socio – economic
institutions based on modern democratic and
capitalistic ideologies. However the existence of
semi feudal institutions along with the formidable
influence of caste and traditional values shape the
culture of informal control. The Panchayats or local
self governments have been under pressure to
modernize and to have inclusive representation.
George Vicentnathan and Lynn Vicentnathan document
the weakening of the authority of panchayats by
forces of modernization and its inability to enforce
social control and resolve conflicts. There is no
consistent pattern of police community relations as
the police in effort to maintain order end up
strengthening traditional values and in many cases
suppressing aspirations of communities for
development.

Whereas in Latin America Police institutions were
fully under military control in most countries of
Latin America and had a negative image. Subsequent
police reforms and adoption of community policing
model as part of the democratization process led to
community policing receiving strong public support.
Hugo Fruhling hints that COP has shown the way to
new internal values with innovation and has
propagated individual responsibility that transcends
disciplinary systems which on the whole can lead to
a decrease in police abuse higher positive impact.

K. C. Wong discusses how “Mass line policing” (MLP)
introduced as a revolutionary concept by Mao and
abiding by the ideal “from the people, to the
people” and in a bid to formulate and build
‘communities’ has propagated community self control.
MLP or policing from the people’s perspective is
fascinating as it engages the community more fully
to solve all its problems including political and
social crimes whereas community policing depends on
the police to fight crime. In this philosophy people
become the core factor and this bottoms up approach
becomes dynamic, empowering and resourceful whereas
COP is static and top down backed by coercive
machinery for control.

Industrialization and urbanization and the
disruption of social disorder created the “citizen
in uniform” to enforce law and order in Britain in
the middle nineteenth century. Public decline of the
image of the “bobby” in Britain and the (violent)
change in the nature of policing particularly during
race riots, made the ideology of community policing
possible. The formation of Police Community Support
Officers and Special Constabulary has helped in
improving community participation in policing, but
has brought forth the fragmentation and the
problematic concept of community in a post modern
society.

Barlow and Barlow highlight how the “criminal
justice system (as) part of the social structure of
accumulation in the capitalist economy” (p.168) and
as a state apparatus of social control it enables
and facilitates accumulation and economic growth.
Tracing the growth and the crises faced by police in
the US at various historical periods, the authors
critically analyze the role of community policing as
promoting legitimacy when it emerged as part
of image management and improving “community
relations”

The French police, a highly centralized force are
tasked mainly with provision of security to the
state and to maintain public order. Consequently
this has increased the fissure between the society
and state and has produced an alienated society.
While in Belgium, community policing was the effect
of two consecutive major reforms. Ambiguity in
conception and multiplicity of policing agencies at
local and federal levels has caused confusion in
understanding of community policing.

By analyzing the diverse models of COP this book
adds to the policing in general and community
policing in particular. Cultural and philosophical
differences play a role in conduct of COP hence it
can be asserted that a consensual approach of
community policing is not possible. As a guide this
book offers an invaluable insight into community
policing as practiced and will be useful for
students and researchers of policing, criminology,
sociology, and public administration, as well as
police officers and administrators responsible for
the policy's implementation.